Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said that the problem has been given the department’s full attention.

“We’re very focused on where they are occurring and my comfort level is that over time we’ll be able to push back down on them as we start arresting those involved,” he 1010 WINS’ Al Jones.

A leading NYPD expert said that the spike could stem from the dramatic reduction in Stop and Frisk.

“At some point people on the streets who would have been inclined to carry guns, but didn’t because they knew they faced a risk of being stopped, they’re gonna conclude that the stop risk is now permanently dropped and they’re going to go back to carrying guns. That could well be what’s going on now,” Heather MacDonald, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

Commissioner Bratton has said that the department had taken Stop and Frisk to extremes in recent years, and that the spike in shootings defies easy explanation.

Despite the increase in shootings, the city has seen fewer murders. The number of murders has dropped almost 10 percent so far in 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.